Climbing Magazine Going Fax-Only

4/1/14 - Climbing Magazine has had a long and storied history since it was started in 1970 by Harvey Carter. We’ve come a long way since that first, black and white issue. We’ve added color. We’ve started using heavier, glossy paper stock. We’ve started using computers and digital cameras. We’ve built a website. Now we're announcing our most-exciting evolution to date: Starting today, we'll be distributing all content by a far more efficient means: Fax.

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Print magazines allowed us to mail content right to our readers, but they take a long time to produce and deliver. As a result, we can only bring beautiful photos and in-depth articles to our readers’ doors once a month.

Our website allowed us to give readers up-to-the-minute news about what was going on in the climbing world, but it requires our readers to actively check it. Our readers shouldn’t have to refresh Climbing.com 20 times a day, hoping for an update on Daniel Woods's latest V15. The news should come to them. Not to mention that our website requires a computer or mobile device to read!

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Faxes solve all of these problems. It offers us the chance to provide readers with the unique reading experience they''ve always dreamed of. The story comes right to you, in your fax machine, as soon it’s ready. There’s no need to check a website or wait a month. We’re no longer dependent on the USPS or your ISP. You can read a fax anywhere. This will cement our position at the forefront of publishing. Soon, everything you read will come through your fax machine.

Here’s how it’s going to work. We’ll keep our ears to the granite, as we’ve always done. Whenever we get a new piece of climbing news, we’ll type up an article on it. After it’s made the rounds between our editors, we’ll print it out on printer paper. Then we’ll give that piece of paper to our intern. She’ll walk to the library and fax the story to each of our subscribers, one at a time.

Simple, right? Initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Here's what readers are saying:

“I used to dread the sound of my fax machine kicking on. Now it excites me with the anticipation of news of the latest Honnold free solos and Dawn Wall updates, some times up to 19 times a day.”
-Dan Paris, Albequerque, NM

“I hate checking websites for new news. Now I don’t have to. The news comes right to my fax machine. Except when it jams, which is most of the time.” -Ryan Lunde, San Francisco, CA

“I don’t even know where you get a fax machine anymore.” –Melissa Mesmer, Lake Placid, FL

If you’d like to subscribe to our fax service, please mail $25 and your fax number to Climbing Magazine, and you’ll receive your first fax in 6-8 months.